Respecting Fish, Restoring Rivers, and Reframing How We Think About Passage
In our last post, we wrote about taking a more natural approach to fish passage—about aligning with how rivers and fish were meant to function, rather than forcing them through systems we’ve engineered. But there’s an important follow-up question I’ve been hearing more often—especially from Tribal leaders and partners: What does “natural” actually mean when we’re talking about fish passage at a dam? Because not all solutions that exist today meet that definition.
Listening First: What “Natural” Really Means
Across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, Tribes and First Nations have been clear—and consistent. A “natural” solution isn’t just one that moves fish from Point A to Point B.
It’s one that:
That perspective matters and it should shape how we think about solutions going forward. When you look honestly at the tools we’ve relied on for decades, it’s clear: We’ve solved for passage—but not always for the fish.
Where Traditional Approaches Fall Short
Let’s take a step back.
Trap-and-Haul
Trap-and-haul systems were created with urgency in mind—to get fish past barriers when nothing else was available.
But they come at a cost:
Even when done carefully using best practices along every step, this is not how fish evolved to move through a river system.
Fish Ladders
Fish ladders improved on that model—but they still require fish to fight their way through an artificial structure.
In many cases:
For stronger individuals, ladders can work. For weaker fish, other species, like benthic ones (e.g., suckers), barriers may take away habitat connectivity from all endemic fish species, or even runs experiencing a multitude of other stressors.
A Different Starting Point
At Whooshh, we began from a different question: What if the most natural solution isn’t about replicating the river… but restoring the experience of movement?
Because in the wild, successful migration is not:
It is:
This became our key design principle.
Letting Fish Choose
A more natural system doesn’t force fish into a process. It invites them. With the PassagePortal, fish encounter an attraction flow—something they already instinctively seek—and:
There is no net. No trap. No human handling. No delay. That matters—not just technically, but culturally. Because a fish choosing its path is fundamentally different than a fish being placed into one.
Reducing Stress at Every Step
Once inside the system, everything is designed around a simple idea: Do no harm.
Fish move through a soft, misted, pneumatic Migrator Tube that:
There is no stress, no lifting, no holding tanks and critically—no delay.
Speed Matters More Than We Thought
One of the most overlooked aspects of “natural” passage is time.
In a ladder, fish may spend hours passing a dam. In trap-and-haul, they may spend even longer. But in a natural river system, when a fish finds a clean path upstream—they are opportunistic.
With pneumatic transport fish pass in seconds, not hours and not days
That means:
Speed, it turns out, isn’t artificial. It’s closer to natural than delay ever was.
Protecting What Matters Most
Another concern I hear consistently from Tribal leaders is this:
How do we protect native fish—without harming them in the process? This is where “selective passage” becomes critical.With FishlRecognition, each fish is identified in real time. Native fish can pass upstream and invasive or non-target species can be managed or removed. No one is touched, sorted by hand, or removed unnecessarily. This isn’t just efficiency, it’s stewardship. It allows for protection of native runs without introducing additional stress into the system.
A Smaller Footprint on the River
There’s another aspect of “natural” that often gets overlooked: What we build—and what we leave behind.
Traditional infrastructure:
By contrast, PassagePortals:
In other words, they solve a problem, without reshaping the river to do it.
Adapting to a Changing Climate
Finally, we have to acknowledge something fundamental: The rivers we are working in today are not the same rivers of 50 years ago: warmer water; variable flows; more stressors than ever impacting fish. Systems that depend on ideal and consistent hydraulic conditions—like ladders—are becoming less reliable. A more natural way forward has to be adaptive, flexible, and resilient to change, rather than resistant to change, just like salmon themselves. The goal isn’t just to move fish today, it’s to ensure their migration journeys are still possible for generations to come.
A Different Kind of Outcome
At the end of the day, this isn’t about comparing technologies. It’s about asking a better question: Are we honoring the fish in how we move them? Because when we get it right:
And just as importantly, we align more closely with the values of the communities who have stewarded these fisheries since time immemorial.
Closing Thought
We cannot return rivers to what they once were, but we can decide how we move forward. We can continue to force fish through systems we designed for our convenience. Or we can build systems that respect how fish were meant to move in the first place.
Not perfectly natural, but closer and meaningfully so. That is the more natural way forward.
By Vincent E Bryan III, Founder & CEO
